Jessica Costescu writes for the Washington Free Beacon about a disturbing development at an Ivy League campus.
On Sunday, a group of keffiyeh-clad individuals huddled around a computer to discuss the “Palestinian resistance.” Charlotte Kates, a member of the Israeli-designated terror group Samidoun, praised Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attack for showing “the potential of a future for Palestine liberated from Zionism.” Khaled Barakat, a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine activist, lauded airplane hijackings as “one of the most important tactics that the Palestinian resistance have engaged in.”
While those speakers and other attendees were explicit in their support for terrorism against Jews, the event did not take place in Gaza, Doha, or Tehran. It took place in New York City, where an anti-Semitic Columbia University student group—Columbia University Apartheid Divest—invited the speakers to deliver a lecture on “the fight for liberation,” titled “Palestinian Resistance 101.”
The event, which the Washington Free Beacon attended virtually, reflects the extreme anti-Semitic activism seen on college campuses in the wake of Hamas’s attack. In some cases, faculty members have advanced that activism.
A Columbia faculty group, Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, promoted the event in an Instagram post, which featured an image of a Palestinian boy throwing stones at an Israeli tank during the second intifada. The group launched in January, pledging to stand with anti-Semitic student protesters and “take back our University.” Its members include classics professor Joseph Howley, history professor Manan Ahmed, and history professor Marwa Elshakry.
In addition to Kates and Barakat, the Sunday event featured Within Our Lifetime founder Nerdeen Kiswani, who has called for Israel to be “wiped off the map.” The three speakers routinely praised Hamas and Hezbollah, advocated for armed resistance against Israel, and encouraged attendees to “be of service … to the resistance movements that are on the front lines fighting Zionism.”
